About Me

In college I worked at my campus library, for the business manager. At first I was disappointed that I wasn’t working with books and also because the circulation desk workers could sometimes study at work whereas I always had more invoices to file, but in retrospect, I learned a great deal more about how a library works from where I was. My summer job was in a campus bookstore in my hometown. I worked the customer service desk so again, not directly with books aside from occasionally to return them, and buyback was done at my counter for the summer terms, although I was just nearby, not involved with it precisely. Though that’s where I learned what ISBN stands for.

After college, and some unfortunate stints bartending and working at an amphitheater among other things, I first volunteered shelving at my local library branch, and then went to work at a national chain book superstore. My standards had dropped so low, I took a substantial pay cut just to work with customers who were sober and literate. The first year I was just a regular staffer, shelving and working the cash register. The second year I was Shipping & Receiving Supervisor which I loved. I got to see every single book that came in the store, and I really understood inventory and returns a lot better from that vantage point.

Next I moved on to the largest Book Wholesaler as a junior buyer. I was responsible for backlist buying and returns for the 8th largest publisher (now a part of the 3rd largest publisher). After a couple of years there I decided to pursue a childhood dream and got a job as an editorial assistant in New York at the 6th largest publisher. I started acquiring early, thanks to my previous experience. I was successful, having a B&N Discover Great New Writers selection and a New York Times bestseller my second year. But after five years, I realized editing wasn’t really for me and I missed the South. I moved back down here and I got a job in Sales at the other largest Book Wholesaler. After a year in the office, I took over the New England territory and traveled all over New England every other week, visiting every single New England independent bookstore (and independent retailer carrying books) that I could, usually five a day. While it was very hectic and the schedule was crazy and I was never home, it was also a wonderful job that I loved. But after two years I was promoted and worked in National Accounts for three years.

Thanks to all this experience across various areas of publishing, I wrote a book: The Insider's Guide to a Career in Book Publishing, which came out in June 2014. You can add it to Goodreads here and click here for links to buy it.

In 2009 I founded my local chapter of the Women's National Book Association and I was elected president. In 2012 I was elected Vice-President/President Elect of WNBA-National, so as of 2014, I am the President. In 2011, I became an independent editor. In 2016, I became Sales Manager at Soho Press in New York.

I have done just about everything in this industry it seems sometimes, but the overriding theme has been that I love books, and will do anything to help get more books in more people’s hands.

Here I am in the 10/13/2010 edition of Publishers Weekly Daily:

Disclaimers

All reviews on this blog are either from my personal library of books, borrowed, or from books provided to me by the publisher, but not specifically for review. I have not received any payment for these reviews and I have not been requested to write a review, positive or otherwise.

This is a personal blog and my opinions are entirely my own. To try to keep professional distance, I have kept most names ambiguous, but I may have gotten my copy of the book at my old work.

Contact

I can be reached at thecarinsiegfried at gmail dot com.